CHEM 260

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY I.
Fall 2015.

Dr. F. T. Greenaway
S-102 Sackler
fgreenaway@clarku.edu
508-793-7182

Lectures:

MWF 11:00-11:50 a.m. S-321

Labs:

Tuesdays 1:25-5:30 p.m. S-222

REQUIRED TEXT:
Atkins Physical Chemistry, 9th ed, P. Atkins, J. De Paula. ISBN: 1-4292-1812-6. Note that
there is a 10th edition, but you can get the 9th edition cheaply.
OPTIONAL LAB TEXT (I would not recommend buying):
Experiments in Physical Chemistry, 8th ed, Carl W. Garland, Joseph W. Nibler, David P.
Shoemaker. ISBN: 978-0-07-282842-9 or 0-07-282842-0 (hard cover). The 7th edn is OK if you
can buy that more cheaply.
Both were used last year so you might be able to get them used. The second of these is primarily
for use in the lab part of the course, but some sections may help supplement Atkins. Both texts
will be used for CHEM262. You can also supplement these texts with other basic texts from the
science library on Physical Chemistry such as those, mostly with a title "Physical Chemistry" by:
Laidler/Meiser, Chang, Levine, Castellan, Moore, Noggle, etc.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course serves as an introduction to the theoretical concepts that are essential for
understanding the nature of all chemical and biochemical systems. The approach is on
developing theories that can interpret chemical and biochemical phenomena on a quantitative
basis. Principles are then applied to specific examples, but the emphasis is theoretical, including
the mathematical derivation of relationships between physical variables, mostly using calculus.
The laboratory work focuses on learning lab techniques by exploring some of the concepts
covered in lectures.
Topics include:
The kinetic theory of gases; the laws of thermodynamics including study of energy (enthalpy)
and entropy effects and the combination of the two into Gibbs free energy and its use in
developing equilibrium theory and predictions of spontaneity; the use of thermodynamic
principles to study solutions; basic theories of kinetics and reaction rates and mechanisms.
LECTURE SCHEDULE
We will be following the material in Atkins fairly closely, covering much of Chapters 1-6, 20-23
in approximately that order, except I will deviate occasionally to give background for some labs.

PROBLEMS:
The key to fully understanding physical chemistry is to do problems until you completely
understand the concepts, and then do more problems. You should attempt a wide sample of the
problems at the end of each chapter, starting with those assigned as homework. These are not
especially easy, and require a fairly good knowledge of the material in the chapter. They will
also take a fair amount of time. After reading and understanding the chapter and your lecture
notes, you should first try to do the problems without referring back to the chapter, if this fails
refer back to the chapter for help. If after several tries you still cannot get the solution, you
should ask the instructor for help. A solutions manual is available for purchase. Note that the
material is cumulative, so that if you are not able to do one section many of the future sections
will be much more difficult. It is thus extremely important to try not to fall behind.
OFFICE HOURS
I am always willing to answer questions whenever you can find me in my office without a visitor
(and preferably not just before or after lectures). I have a schedule posted on my office door
indicating when I am most likely to be in. Please do not hesitate to drop by if you have any
questions or need help with problems or anything else. The TA will also have office hours, at
times to be announced. While his role is mainly to assist with the labs, you may utilize him for
assistance with basic lecture-related material although he may not be familiar with all of this.
WORK EXPECTATIONS
Clark has an expectation that a minimum of 12 hrs a week for 15 weeks is spent on each fourcredit course. The following is a general guide to the time you might expect to spend on this
course. This averages over 14 hours a week. It will be the most efficient if you spread the
workload so that you keep up with the material by setting up a schedule so you allocate time
each week for each of these components (especially the last three).
class time: (14 weeks)
42 hours
lab time (10 weeks)
40 hours
preparation for labs (25 mins/week)
4 hours
lab reports and analysis (2hr/week)
20 hours
homework assignments (2.5 hr/week)
35 hours
reviewing lecture material and reading text (4 hours/week)
56 hours
Total 197 hours
GRADES
There will be five fifty-minute exams, which will normally be held outside class time on:
Wednesday September 16th
Wednesday October 7th
Wednesday October 28th
Wednesday November 18th
Wednesday December 2nd
These will be worth 100 points each, but the worst one will be dropped. (total 40%)
A large proportion of the exam questions are numerical problems. Exams will be held outside
class time on Wednesday afternoons (at a time to be agreed upon) so that you will not

necessarily be constrained to 50 minutes (although they are intended as 50-minute exams). I will
make available exams from a previous year.
Problem sets will be assigned on a regular basis and will be graded and worth 150 points (15% of
the final grade).
The two-hour cumulative final will be worth 200 points and will be held as scheduled by the
Registrar on Monday December 14th at 10:30a.m. (20%)
The lab will be worth 250 points. (25%)
PROBLEM SETS:
Problems will be assigned most weeks and are due on Monday before the end of class. They
will NOT be accepted after this. The aggregate of these will be worth 15% of the final grade.
This is not a high percentage but it should be possible to score 100% on these if you are diligent
and organized enough to get them done on time, and that could mean the difference of an entire
grade. Since exams will be based on problems like the homework you are strongly advised to
try them all under closed-book conditions if at all possible before going back to your text for
help. You are strongly encouraged come to me for help with the homework problems (but only
after you have tried them) and I am willing to check your answers and tell you what you have
wrong if you see me before Monday so that you can go away and redo them if necessary. You
must do the assigned problems yourself with no assistance from any source. Thus you may not
collaborate in any way with current or former students on the assigned problems. However, in
many cases, similar problems are given in the text and you may try those first and even use the
solutions manual for such non-assigned problems.
LABORATORIES:
Labs are scheduled for 1:25 - 5:30 on Tuesdays. There will be 10 weeks of labs and they will
commence on Tuesday September 1st and will continue until November 17th. The lab work will
be worth 250 points (i.e. 25% of the total grade). If you fail to hand in any lab report, you will
fail the entire course.
MATH BACKGROUND
You MUST have completed two semesters of calculus. P. Chem. can only be understood at this
level with a decent understanding of math. In particular you must attempt to understand what
derivatives and integrals MEAN in the context of the physical systems we will be dealing with.
This is not all that easy at any time, and it is more difficult without adequate math preparation.
We will, of course, discuss the meaning of the math in class and go over math where it is clear
that it is presenting a problem. We will be using partial derivatives a great deal but it will not be
assumed that you are familiar with them.
You are all strongly advised to read and understand the mathematical appendices in Atkins and
in Garland et al. Two helpful math reference books are: Single Variable Calculus, 4th ed.,
James Stewart and its Solution Manual, and "Applied Mathematics for Physical Chemistry,"
James R. Barrante, Prentice-Hall. Your calculus text would probably be helpful too. However,
my experience is that you will probably not need to refer to them as although we use calculus

extensively it is mostly in class and you are not asked to do much calculus under exam
conditions.
MOODLE
I will make extensive use of Moodle, for any supplementary lab or lecture material that is
necessary, for posting answers to assigned problems, and for announcements. Grades will also
be posted there so that you can keep track of your performance. At the beginning of the
semester, please ensure that you are able to access Moodle through the web.
ATTENDANCE
Attendance is required at all scheduled lab periods and is expected at lectures. Anyone who
misses more than 4 lectures will be penalized 2% of their grade per extra lecture missed.
CALCULATIONS
Much of the material in this course will require use of a calculator, which you are responsible for
acquiring and learning to use. In addition, it is expected that you know how to use the statistical
and graphing capabilities of Excel or a suitable alternative program (for labs).
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Plagiarism, academic dishonesty and cheating are of course unacceptable and all violations of
Clarks standards (www.clarku.edu/offices/aac/integrity.cfm) will be reported to the College
Board. In labs, when you have an assigned partner, you may collaborate on the experiment and
discuss how to do the data analysis but you have to do the actual analysis yourself. There is to
be no collaboration on assigned homework problems.
OTHER
Students are not permitted to make or receive calls (including text messaging) on cell phones
during lectures and must set them to silent mode during these times. You may keep them on in
labs but must leave the lab to conduct conversations on them. You may not use phones in
exams, not even the calculator mode.
Food and drink are not permitted in the lab. Neither are open-toed shoes. Safety glasses must be
worn at all times in the lab.